San Francisco


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Published: March 20th 2006
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The GirlsThe GirlsThe Girls

These are the lovely ladies I got to spend the days leading up to the wedding with. From Left to right: Megan (who lived nextdoor to Camille in Vancouver when we were in elementary school), Charla, Rosie (Camille's sister), Camille, Macha and me.
Hi!

My first week of work was great, but exhausting! I have a wide variety of students of different levels and abilities, which keeps me on my toes. Now that I've settled back into life in Japan I thought it was time to let you know about my trip to North America. It is strange to think of it as a trip: when I went through Canadian customs they made me check off 'visitor' instead of 'resident'!

San Francisco was wonderful. The first five days I was there were sunny and gorgeous (the rain started on the day of the wedding). Camille had everything under control so instead of frantically helping with last minute wedding details I got to relax and be pampered. Camille referred to us as "lady's of leisure", since we spent our days getting our hair and nails done, having my dress fitted and having lunch with other ladies. I was the first out-of-town guest to arrive, which was great since I was able to spend lots of time with Camille, Alek and their families.

As some of you know, Camille has a design degree from Carnegie Mellon and every aspect of the wedding was
Full HouseFull HouseFull House

These are the houses in the opening credits of Full House! Camille lives a few blocks away from them.
beautifully done. As you can see the bride's maids dresses were gorgeous and she made jewelery for each of us that matched perfectly. The bridesmaids spent he night before the wedding icing the cake (and cupcakes) and making the bouquets and centre pieces. It was great to be part of the wedding. For those of you who don't know, Camille is one of my oldest friends--as our parents like to say "We've been friends since before we were born and our mom's were pregnant with us."

We went to Japan town for the Bachelorette party and sang karaoke in a private booth (which is very Japanese--think Lost In Translation). We had a fabulous time and sang lots of old school songs--the karaoke bars in Japan actually have a better, more up-to-date selection of English music! Since I thought it was hilarious that I went all the way to SF to hang out in Japan town, I dragged the girls around (in our heels) to take pictures of us in front of Japanese things, see attached photos.

My plan was to do some sightseeing the day after the wedding, but it rained so hard that we were soaked through
CurlersCurlersCurlers

The first hair appointment of the week.
in five minutes and decided to abandon the tourist attempt. Luckily, I was in Victoria for Tourist in Your Own Town and Jamie bought me a ticket for my Birthday. I spent my time in Canada visiting, eating my favorite foods and seeing the sites.

Wow, it was hard to choose which pictures to post since I took 300 😊

I was bumped up to Executive Class (or Eguzekuteibu kurasu, in Japanese) on my flight home, which was a wonderfully comfortable treat!

Colin is planning on posting a blog tomorrow since it is a National holiday and he has the day off. He took me to an amazing onsen when I came back, it was gorgeous.

Love Maddy.


Additional photos below
Photos: 28, Displayed: 24


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Camille and AlekCamille and Alek
Camille and Alek

In their appartment.
Camille and RabbitCamille and Rabbit
Camille and Rabbit

It is a cat named Rabbit.
Lucky StarLucky Star
Lucky Star

That's right we're singing Madonna!
PagodaPagoda
Pagoda

Sorry, you can't see it because it was too dark and the pagoda was fairly small.
Japan TownJapan Town
Japan Town

Still in San Francisco.
Kabuki Theatre Kabuki Theatre
Kabuki Theatre

It is now a movie theatre
Hairstyles...Hairstyles...
Hairstyles...

We spent four hours at the hairdresser before the wedding--things got a little out of hand.
UpdoUpdo
Updo

My hair is finally long enough for an updo! I loved the back, the front was a little to puffy... Notice the Kimono in the background, the hairdresser was Japanese.
Alek & the GroomsmenAlek & the Groomsmen
Alek & the Groomsmen

Note: Alek's tie matches Camille's dress and the groomsmen's ties match the bridesmaids dresses--Camille made them!
The CakeThe Cake
The Cake

This was Camille and Alek's and the guests had cupcakes with raspberry sorbet--yum!
Tourist TimeTourist Time
Tourist Time

In front of the Empress in Victoria


22nd March 2006

Mad! Camille's neighbourhood looks like (this is deep in the memory banks...) the beginning of that sitcom from the 80's with Bob Saget....family somthing.....family..... and doesn't meghan look great?! YOu look great- keep having a blast girl!!!! love courtney

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